The birds are definitely in. The water is opening up very quickly now. The birding reports from Seward indicate that they are backing up there as they layover before heading here and further north. I was waiting on an American Wigeon and these Mew Gulls caught my attention. I think she likes him.

The swans were gett’n lively on the pond. The fighting ritual is very intriguing to observe. There are elaborate dances and then an attack on what seems to be a rather unsuspecting individual (I don’t think he got the memo that he was involved) , followed by a victory celebration followed by another attack as shown above. These are a few outtakes from a rather long sequence.

I have been spending a lot of time with these guys over on Spring Creek. There are about 12 – 18 of them at a time depending. At first the musk rat trapper was blowing them out when he came through, which unfortunately was just about the time that the sun made it over Mat Peak. Well in Alaska the light moves fast and sunrise over the peak has moved up enough that I get in and out before the trapper shows up.

It keeps thawing and the swans keep coming. I really enjoy photographing swans, they are so beautiful and graceful and here in Alaska we are fortunate to have a lot of them. Of course the Big A K is home to a lot of migrate breeding birds which makes it just too much fun.